Adiponectin improves coronary no-reflow injury by protecting the endothelium in rats with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

To determine the effect of adiponectin (APN) on the coronary no-reflow (NR) injury in rats with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), 80 male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with a high-sugar-high-fat diet to build a T2DM model. Rats received vehicle or APN in the last week and then were subjected to myocardial ischemia reperfusion (MI/R) injury. Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of the thoracic aorta was significantly decreased and serum levels of endothelin-1 (ET-1), intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) were noticably increased in T2DM rats compared with rats without T2DM. Serum APN was positively correlated with the endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation, but negatively correlated with the serum level of ET-1. Treatment with APN improved T2DM-induced endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation, recovered cardiac function, and decreased both NR size and the levels of ET-1, ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. Hypoadiponectinemia was associated with the aggravation of coronary NR in T2DM rats. APN could alleviate coronary NR injury in T2DM rats by protecting the endothelium and improving microcirculation

AMP-activated protein kinase activation and NADPH oxidase inhibition by inorganic nitrate and nitrite prevent liver steatosis

Advanced age and unhealthy dietary habits contribute to the increasing incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes. These metabolic disorders, which are often accompanied by oxidative stress and compromised nitric oxide (NO) signaling, increase the risk of adverse cardiovascular complications and development of fatty liver disease. Here, we investigated the therapeutic effects of dietary nitrate, which is found in high levels in green leafy vegetables, on liver steatosis associated with metabolic syndrome. Dietary nitrate fuels a nitrate–nitrite–NO signaling pathway, which prevented many features of metabolic syndrome and liver steatosis that developed in mice fed a high-fat diet, with or without combination with an inhibitor of NOS (L-NAME). These favorable effects of nitrate were absent in germ-free mice, demonstrating the central importance of host microbiota in bioactivation of nitrate. In a human liver cell line (HepG2) and in a validated hepatic 3D model with primary human hepatocyte spheroids, nitrite treatment reduced the degree of metabolically induced steatosis (i.e., high glucose, insulin, and free fatty acids), as well as drug-induced steatosis (i.e., amiodarone). Mechanistically, the salutary metabolic effects of nitrate and nitrite can be ascribed to nitrite-derived formation of NO species and activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase, where xanthine oxidoreductase is proposed to mediate the reduction of nitrite. Boosting this nitrate–nitrite–NO pathway results in attenuation of NADPH oxidase-derived oxidative stress and stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase and downstream signaling pathways regulating lipogenesis, fatty acid oxidation, and glucose homeostasis. These findings may have implications for novel nutrition-based preventive and therapeutic strategies against liver steatosis associated with metabolic dysfunction.</p

The Formal Model of DBMS Enforcing Multiple Security Polices

Abstract — The formal security policy model and security analysis is necessary to help Database Management System (DBMS) to attain a higher assurance level. In this paper we develop a formal security model for a DBMS enforcing multiple security policies including mandatory multilevel security policy, discretionary access control policy and role based access control policy. A novel composition scheme of policies is introduced. And the security properties are comprehensively and accurately specified in terms of about 17 state invariants and state transition constraints. Furthermore, the security of the model is proved with the Z/EVES theorem prover. Index Terms—-multiple security policies; formal language; security invariant; theorem proving I

The Non-Agriculturalization of Cultivated Land in Karst Mountainous Areas in China

When used for agricultural production, karst mountainous areas are susceptible to soil degradation due to the effects of soluble rocks and the climate. To mitigate the risk, the Grain for Green Project, a sizable initiative, was commenced to transition cultivated land away from agricultural use. This conversion of cultivated land to non-agricultural land has been significant. The study area considered in this research included four small towns in southwest China in karst mountainous areas with various morphologies. The investigation of the non-agriculturalization of cultivated land in the four sample areas revealed that the non-agriculturalization rate of cultivated land as a result of the Grain for Green Project has reached between 21.36% and 51.43% each decade. Thus, the Grain for Green Project has been advantageous for lowering the landscape ecological risk. Furthermore, because an increasing number of agricultural production materials have been introduced to the cultivated land, the conversion from cultivated land to non-agricultural land has not caused a staple food crisis on the national scale. However, it is impossible to observe all the potential drawbacks of the non-agriculturalization of cultivated land from satellite photos alone, and further social data collection is required. The findings of this study can offer precise information for policymaking in relation to the protection of rural cultivated land and rural spatial optimization in karst mountainous areas

Factors associated with the high susceptibility to depression of women during the perimenopause

Abstract Objective This study investigated the factors associated with the high susceptibility of perimenopausal women to depression. Methods A total of 66 perimenopausal women participated in this study. The Zung self‐rating depression scale (SDS) was used to evaluate the intensity of depressive symptoms. The modified Kupperman index (KI) was used to assess common perimenopausal symptoms. Psychosocial factors were assessed via the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, attitudes toward menopause checklist, and metacognition questionnaire (MCQ). Levels of serum estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone were determined. Results There were statistically significant associations between SDS standard score and the KI scale score (β = .361, p = .001), years of education (β = −.309, p = .005), and F3 cognitive self‐consciousness score of MCQ (β = −.234, p = .032; adjusted R2 = .264, F = 8.759, p < .001). Conclusions High susceptibility to depression of perimenopausal women may be related to lower educational level, more severe perimenopausal symptoms, and altered metacognition

Identification of a 24-gene panel and a novel marker of PODXL2 essential for the pathological diagnosis of early prostate cancer

Precise diagnosis of early prostate cancer (PCa) is critical for preventing tumor progression. However, the diagnostic outcomes of currently used markers are far from satisfactory due to the low sensitivity or specificity. Here, we identified a diagnostic subpopulation in PCa tissue with the integrating analysis of single-cell and bulk RNA-seq. The representative markers of this subpopulation were extracted to perform intersection analysis with early-PCa-related gene module generated from weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA). A total of 24 overlapping genes were obtained, the diagnostic roles of which were validated by distinguishing normal and tumorous prostate samples from the public dataset. A least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model was constructed based on these genes and the obtained 24-gene panel showed high sensitivity and specificity for PCa diagnosis, with better identifying capability of PCa than the commercially used gene panel of Oncotype DX. The top two risk factors, TRPM4 and PODXL2, were verified to be highly expressed in early PCa tissues by multiplex immunostaining, and PODXL2 was more sensitive and specific compared to TRPM4 and the pathologically used marker AMACR for early PCa diagnosis, suggesting a novel and promising pathology marker

Developing hierarchical CdS/NiO hollow heterogeneous architectures for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen generation

The hierarchical binary CdS/NiO hollow heterogeneous architectures (HHAs) with p-n heterojunction are constructed by a facile microwave-assisted wet chemical process for high-efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) from water. The asdesigned CdS/NiO HHAs are composed of hexagonal n-type CdS nanoparticles with a size in the range of 20-40 nm attaching to cubic p-type NiO hollow microspheres (HMSs) which are aggregates of porous nanoplates with a thickness of about 20 nm. The photocatalytic water splitting over CdS/NiO HHAs is significantly increased under simulated solar irradiation, among which the most active sample of CdS/NiO-3 (the mass ratio of CdS to NiO is 1:3) exhibits the fastest photocatalytic HER rate of 1.77 mmol.g(-1), h(-1), being 16.2 times than that of pure CdS. The boosted photocatalytic HER could be attributed to the synergistic effect on the proportional p-n heterojunction with special hierarchical hollow and porous morphology, an enhancement of visible light absorption, and an improvement of photoinduced charge separation as well as the photo-stability given by the composite heterojunction. This work shows a viable strategy to design the heterojunction with special morphology for the efficient hydrogen generation by water splitting utilizing solar energy

Evaluating the bioenergy potential of kitchen wastes fermentation residues through pyrolysis kinetics, thermodynamics and Py-GC/MS analysis technique

Pyrolysis non-isothermal kinetics, thermodynamics and products compositional characteristics of kitchen wastes fermentation residues (KWFR) were investigated to explore the bioenergy potential by thermogravimetric analysis and pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) methods. The results showed that pyrolysis process can be divided into four common stages. The kinetics results deduced from FWO, KAS and Popescu methods showed that reaction activation energy (E) was 170.56, 168.98 and 172.10 kJ mol(-1) and pre-exponential factor (A) was 1.22E + 17, 5.04E + 10 and 1.80E + 15 min(-1), respectively, while the optimal mechanism function was G(alpha) = [1 - (1 - alpha)(1/3)](2)(n = 2). The calculated thermodynamic parameters included Delta H (163.77-166.90 kJ mol(-1)), Delta S (- 62.25-61.28 J mol(-1) K-1) and Delta G (145.41-184.02 kJ mol(-1)). The Py-GC/MS results showed mainly produced nitrogen-containing compounds, acidic alcohol compounds, aldehydes, ketones, esters, benzenes and hydrocarbons. This study highlights KWFR can be considered as an attractive feedstock for bioenergy and bio-based chemicals and meanwhile may help to solve the problem of kitchen wastes digestion tailings